Unamas unveils it’s skimboard made with Cobratex’s reinforcements

Congratulations to Yann Franssen, Unamas, for his most recent board, “Made in France”. This well-known Skimboard athlete is a rider and a shaper, in other words he is a user as well as a manufacturer. Following an international career, including Mexico, Yann settles down in the South of France. He begins skimboarding in the early 2000’s on the Mediterranean Sea, by riding on shallow water, known as flat. He then evolves with rotations, 360’s, pop-shove-it and other technics. His first board was made of sea word in his grand-father’s garage at the age of 12 years old. Now, Yann has widened his range of products, including carbon versions and recently Cobratex’ bamboo reinforcements !

We first met unexpectedly, in a very different context, and Yann was really impressed with Cobratex’ approach and aim. Very quickly, he starts designing and making his new green skimboard. With Cobratex’ support, Yann produces several boards that are very much noticed around him… This is what he thinks about his board :

Concerning production :

• No small particles that irritate the skin during sanding, compared to Carbon fibre
• No resin absorption, hence a lighter board and cheaper one in terms of resin (hence more sustainable)

Concerning the ride :

• Under your feet, the board is rigid and reactive
• The feeling is greater than with any other fibres, it feels like we riding a wood board with the carbon or glass fibres high performances.
• The board floats better improving the lift.

The other great advantage : the design

Yann only pointed out two weaknesses regarding our products for his board :

• The price (indeed, as we are comparing our current production capability with industrial means of production such as carbon and glass fibres’…)
• The use of a vacuum necessary when shaping the board

As you can see, the expert’s feedbacks don’t only put forward the visual and unusual touch of this board due to its texture, he was very much impressed with the feeling of it: a mixture of high rigidity, reminding of carbon fibre, and flexibility, providing a unique sensation of the wave being surfed. All this combined with a sustainability! This new product was really appreciated by all the testers who gathered several times at Portissol beach in Sanary-sur-Mer, during thorough riding sessions and great friendly moments !

The following video was made by several skimboard pros in the “Bassin de Berre” in Marseille, south of France :

Congratulations again to you Yann and Unamas for this remarkable achievement ! Online sale available on our website.